Physicians Data Scraping

Data Scraping simply refers to using sophisticated software by a program in a computer to collect personal data from online business directories, social networking websites, auction data, online forums, job sites among other Web-based sources. The information that is copied from another target website and converted into other formats can be used to track consumer preferences, conduct market research and screen job candidates.

The practice of data scraping has recently received a lot of criticism from the medical industry when a media research firm was found to have inappropriately copied messages from a discussion forum website PatientsLikeMe. Most medical practitioners and other professionals in the industry questioned the practice of data or content scraping terming it an intrusion into their professions’ ethics.

The physician data scraping incident prompted the forum to conduct a research that implicated the research firm, compelling the CEO of the firm who took over to regret the act that was more of a violation of users rights by stating that it was a bad legacy that they don’t practice anymore. Apparently there are several companies that provide the data scraping services saving many businesses the time and money spent in extracting web-based data, with few legal precedents available to govern the practice.

Critics argue that the practice poses a major risk to the online social media outlets if left unmonitored, hence causing bad effects on website information. Most companies have defended themselves from engaging in scraping data that require individual accounts to access. With this kind of developments and advancements in technology it’s inevitable that spending on data from online sources is expected to grow rapidly in the near future.